The big flower and orchid show, Orquídeas, Pájaros y Flores, starts at the Botanical Gardens today and runs through 07 August. Check the earlier post on this subject for the times and ticket prices. If you are into plants, don’t miss this one.

The Botanic Gardens are generally free admission but between 02 August and 07 August there will be an entry fee for the Orquídeas, Pájaros y Flores show (Orchids, Birds and Flowers Show). This is a great show and well worth the admission price. The gardens will be close on 08 August to allow the show to be dismantled. Free for the rest of the year!!! To get there just take the Metro to the Universidad Station and bare right when you leave the metro system 🙂

It’s getting close to the time of year again when Medellin goes crazy for a month. This is a link to the preliminary schedule. I will post the final version when it is available.

Lots of fun stuff to do including the big orchid/flower show at the Botanical Gardens. Here is some amateur video from last years show.

Other popular events include the antique car parade (Desfile de Autos Clásicos), the horse parade (caballgata) and of course the sillateros. These are traditional floral displays that originated with transporting the flowers from Santa Elena where they are/were grown to the market places of Medellin. They are beautiful indeed.

One of my favorite events is the sancocho contest in Santa Elena. Sancocho is a delicious stew and in this event all the surrounding villages compete for the honor of making the best. The results are of course for sale 🙂

These are just a few of the events that will take place all over the city and for most of the month. Please check the preliminary schedule for a better idea of just how much happens during August.

Just a quick reminder that the monthly farmers market is happening Sunday at the botanical garden. Well worth a visit if you have not taken part yet. Take some cash as you will find some very interesting food items as well as other good stuff.

The Botanic Garden is getting behind the World Wildlife Fund and the international celebration of Earth Hour or Hora del Planeta (in Spanish). There will be a bike ride leaving from Carlos E. Restrepo at 6:30 p.m. with arrival at the Parque de los Deseos at 8:00 p.m. That signal the start of a free concert by Medellin’s Philharmonic Orchestra.The parque is located adjacent to the Jardin Botanico and just to the south.

Other Colombian cities celebrating Earth Hour include Bogotá, Cali, Pasto, Yumbo and Mocoa. Please tun off you lights between 8:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. to remind people we need to be reducing our contributions to adverse climate change. Please think carefully about what your personal responsibility is in protect our future.

I would like to propose a get together here in Medellin on the first Sunday in April at the botanical gardens. There should be a Mercado Verde (similar to a framers market) that day. In any case hanging out in the patio adjacent to the In Situ restaurant for a coffee, beer or what ever and an opportunity to build social capital here in Medellin can’t be all bad.

The Mercado Verde starts at 9:00 AM and goes through 5:00 PM. How about meeting at 1:30 PM?
If you are interested please make a comment on this note.